porschemikeandnancy

In addition to 3M, there is also Venture Shield. I just had my bumper and hood done by Metropolitan Auto Detail (Seattle area). As I understand these products, they can discolor after "x" many years (depending upon the amount of time it spends in the sun). If that happens, these films are designed to be removed and replaced.

Macca

Mmmm. Ive had 3M film on my midnight blue car for 6 years. I will present you with a different opinion. In some ways I think this is futile. Its like grandma putting down plastic floor coverings on her expensive Ackminster hallway carpet. She dies without getting the pleasure of enjoying the real feel of what shes paid for.

First. I changed to turbo bumper in early 2010. They sprayed it color match. However it looks different beause the 3m film on the hood and around the lights has aged yellow with 6 years UV. You cant tell till you put new 3M on the new turbo bumper then it becomes more obvious the properties of the old 3m have changed due to age and sunlight.

Second. So I peel the bonnet 3M off after 6 years use. Its scratched because it gets soft when its very hot and the bugs leave glue like residue on it and if you clean it when its warm you mark it. You can scratch it very easy unlike paint so be careful when its warm. You cant buff it like paint you have to be careful.

Third. So you send your car to be groomed. It comes back with white powder lines around all the edges of the clear 3M. You use a toothpick to scrape them all away and loose 2 hours of your life you will never get back.

Fourth. Finally because your bumper is now a different shade to your hood you remove 6 year old hood 3M. What they dont tell you is big rocks still chip loose the paint under the 3M. Sure you cant see it with that dirty film on top but when you remove it the chips can come off with the plastic. Back to square one - you now fill the chips like you would if you didnt have the 3M and put new 3M on top? Mad??

Lastly. 3M costs maybe $400 to have done properly. You can have the front end professionally resprayed for double that! Now imagine your car gets bumped in a car part on the front bumper. It creases the bumper. Your panel shop removes 3M resprays bumper after using heat gun to get out the crease and now you are up for another $250 to do new 3M on the bumper.

Its madness. Unless its a 2000 mile garage queen wear your road rash with pride. If you loose sleep at night worrying if your lottory numbers will win this weekend then 3M is for you - other wise live life and enjoy the car. You coul keep it as clean as a whistle and then someone scrapes your bumper with their bike or car and life changes.

Im a guy who owns a mint looking 993. I have 3M for 6 years. If I were doing it again I wouldnt bother. I would fill the small chips every 6 months and use it as therapy to bond with my car. I would respray the front end every 5-6 year when they got bad enough to warrant it then enjoy a low maintenace finish that can take sunlight, heat and machine polishing.

Lifes short. Moneys tight. Spend your $450 on a FD golden rod, HID light kit for the main beams, a billet alloy cup holder from www.inventivaconcepts.com, gerts Front protection bar and with the change fill the tank with gas and drive 200 miles through windy roads to your favourite cafe this weekend and buy yourself a latte.

My 2 c :-)

Bouzoukikid

^^@Macca
You make some very good points. We worry too much. I would probably 3m just the bumper.

Michael S.

Macca,

Thanks for the input... I am struggling with the question right now, as I expect to pick up my new Audi S4 (daily driver) soon. I've never put film on a car, but I have thought about it countless times. The 5 year old Jetta I just sold was shadow blue metallic, and it looked like it had been sandblasted on the front end, with pits and chips everywhere. Until your post, I was pretty sold on the idea of putting on film, but now I'm not so sure... I certainly understand and respect many of the points you made. We do worry too much!

V

I agree 100% with Macca, very well put.

J.B.H.

Excellent Points Macca...The only thing I will say..if you plan on driving the car daily, 25+ miles per, which is what I used to do....You will get alot more than a few chips to fill, especially in the northeast...so I would seriously consider it.

Stealth 993

I understand what you are getting at, but you have some follies.
1. You can polish the clear bra. But only with a light non-abraisve polish. You should also clay it to get some of the bug guts out.
2. The newer clear bra is thiner, & is not suppose to discolor like the older stuff.
3. You need to find a new detail shop, you should not be picking out anything after paying for a detail.
4. After a few years of abuse you should replace the parts that are all beat up.

For me around here it's over $1000 to get the bumper resprayed. You can get the "standard" clear bra done for around $600. For me it's easier to get pieces of the clear bra redone, then a repaint. If a rock does go through the clear bra, it would do 2-5x the damage with out the clear bra on. Yes, you can still need some touch ups. But under the clear bra, you can't see them, they are masked by the clear bra.

We have all of our cars done, & it has paid for it's self on the MINI, we got a "gator" (Semi tire tread) fly up about 30ft in the air & hit the hood of the car. All that was left was a rubber mark on the clear bra. A little polish & it's like new. We also got a few good hits on the headlight lens, a few went through. We just replaced the clear bra, & a little polish on the lens, just like new. It also adds some resale, & give the impression you care for the car, & do what it takes to take care of it.

Said point is, we use the car, they get damaged, there is really no way around it. My goal is minimize it, & keep the car looking new the longest.

Macca

Hi Stealth993,

Just offering a different perspective. I do put polish on the clear 3M product bit its almost impossible to remove larger scratches. With clear coat lacquer you can use 3M cutting compound on a wheel and cut many of these out. Ive had both generations of 3M product over 6 years and regardless of what they say they all react to UV eventually being a petroleum based product. I find the white power from polish builds up along the edges even after washing the vehicle after a groom - its just a trap for fine debris and I spend a few hours twice a year removing it by hand with a toothpick to make it look nice again.

I put my 3M on after a full respray. If I owned a new car and it was a daily driver Id consider having it installed at the dealer before pick up just to keep the paint as original as possible from day one.

I guess over the years Ive just had a re think on the whole thing. As a weekend toy and if bought second hand I probably wouldnt bother. Although I keep my car super clean as those that have seen it will attest - if you look closely there are plenty of war wounds. Even with 3M the leading edges of hood and bumper grills gets small chips.

Compared to many off the mods that can be done on these cars re painting is cheap. Even a full respray can be achieved where I come from for not much more than set of PSS10 and ajustable sway bars fitted to the car. Heck people dont even repaint their cars any longer - they plastic wrap them now in any colour they want and pay 3-4000$ for the privelage. Pretty mad if youve seen a few of these "matt black" plastic wrapped cars which 2 years down stream are shiny on the wrap where wear has taken place or the car has been rubbed dry and have lots of tears where rocks have nicked the film (its thin). But its all thee rage right now - a fashion thing I guess....

When I had my 993RS it had 7 years of original paint with a finely sandblasted look from small rock chips up front and my first impressions were - heck it needs a respray. But after living with it for a while I started to really love the patina. It was like a well loved pair of suede loafers - its just looked like a serious tool that had lived its life as intended and I left it as it was. There was something nice about not stressing about the paint getting a few small rock chips too LOL!

Each to his own on this subject as always. Having a foot in both camps I thought Id offer some different thoughts on it but I still maintain take your $600 and spend it on a few choice mods that really improve your enjoyment of the car if money is an issue and you want to keep your costs down....

Cheers
M

Marco8

No opinion on the film, opinion on your car..Gorgeous!!!

Stealth 993

I fully understand & agree a little with some of your points. But next time you go to get clear bra, see if you can get Venture Shield, it's superior to 3M.

asofine

Thanks for the replies everybody!

Truth be told, my opinion was more-or-less in line with Macca before reading this thread (and Macca, you make a good case, btw). Still, I think I've decided to go for 3m (or Venture Shield, will look into it). Living in the Bay Area and driving along these freeways every day is really the decisive factor. The car has been a garage queen for 15 years, and unfortunately I'm about to start using it as my DD. I don't drive too aggressively (my last car was an '89 911 which I had for 22 years as my DD and is still in good running order), so I don't foresee myself driving the car into the ground. Any other tips/suggestions for converting this former garage queen into my DD would nonetheless be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Macca

asofine. Im impressed by your P-car tenure. Im also incredibly jealous. Mine is 10 years with me but not as a daily and I envy the enjoyment you will have with yours. It sounds like you have bought a very clean example up front which is a good basis to just get in and enjoy and have a reliable ride. Its sounds like you got your 3.2 almost brand new - im sure thats an amazing story in its own right (how many miles now?). You are living the dream. Enjoy!

jnicol

3m for sure! Your car is absolutely stunning!

My experience is 3 years, year round driving and bush whacking, roads covered in rocks not sand with the lower half of my Gwagen wrapped. Still cannot see it.
When I got my 993 I immediately wrapped it except for the engine lid. When you wrap it, the lines are impossible to see anyway.
I have never removed it so I don't know how that will go, but I can say that the two vehicles I owned and drove during the same time frame and conditions (roughly) as my G have lots of little paint chips and some of them are starting to rust (year round driving). That is what hurts.

My advice is to do it and to do as much as you can afford to, trying to go complete panel by complete panel - ie. no seams. Second bit of advice is find the most obsessive compulsive SOB you can find to do it and they will blow you away with the quality.

asofine

Thanks

I love, l-o-v-e my 3.2. I'm the one and only owner the car's ever had and am practically the only person to have driven the car (although my son gets behind the wheel from time to time). I bought it new on Dec 31, 1988 and loved the thing so much that I never saw a reason to get out of it until recently...I've been ogling 993s for too many years now and when I saw this one I couldn't let the opportunity pass. I've lived in Vancouver, Canada since the early 70s, which is where the car has put on virtually all of its miles. If you're unfamiliar, Vancouver is an interesting city in that it has no major freeways in the vicinity of the city proper. The city driving can make for rough miles for many drivers, but I was rather lucky in that I lived only about 2 miles from work for many, many years so I put very few miles on the car (at least for a daily driver). The car currently has 144,000 kms (or 90,000 miles). Believe it or not, I've never done any major work on the car, I've just kept up with regular maintenance (and have of course addressed other issues as they've popped up...but again, nothing major has gone wrong with it in 22 years). It's been in one major accident...back in 1990, some moron ran a red light and t-boned me...I had to sue my insurance company, but they eventually paid the $48,000 (!!) claim.

As for the new car, I suppose a new chapter begins!

I'll post a few pictures of my 3.2 momentarily. On that subject, have you (or anybody else) any idea what it might be worth? I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with the thing...I can't stand the idea of giving it up, but my wife is haggling me to at least consider it. Again, it's an '89 911 cab (anniversary edition), blue on blue, fully loaded (fully automatic top, full leather, plush carpeting, 8-way heated electric seats, CD player, 6 cd holder, digital thermometer...what else? I can't recall off the top of my head). I'm not sure what effect the 1990 accident would have on it...but heck, at this point it's quite safe to say that it's survived!

Anyway, Macca, would also love to hear about your car! It's time for me to join the 993-crazed crew, so any stories would be much appreciated!

EDIT: I should add, I did replace the roof a little over a year ago!

asofine

My beloved 3.2 (aka "Q-Tip")
Edit: Looking at these photos, I cringe when I see how I foolishly repainted only part of the car a few years back...there is a noticeable color difference from the driver-side door quarter panel forward, particularly in the sunlight.



My son with the Tip: